Carrie Fisher

Actor / Writer

Born: 21 October 1956

Birthplace: Los Angeles, California

Best known as: Princess Leia in Star Wars

Carrie Fisher is still remembered as the plucky Princess Leia in the hit film Star Wars (1977). Her parents, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, were a famous Hollywood couple of their day. (Fisher later left Reynolds to marry Elizabeth Taylor.) Carrie Fisher made her feature film debut in 1975's Shampoo (with Warren Beatty), and two years later had her breakthrough with Star Wars. She also joined co-stars Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford in two sequels, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). In the 1980s Fisher battled drug addiction and manic-depression and later described her struggles in the semi-autobiographical book Postcards From the Edge (1990). In the 1990s she became known as a screenwriter and "script doctor" for feature films, and since then has had a talk show on TV, Conversations From the Edge, and another novel, The Best Awful (2004, also based on her personal experiences).

Extra credit: She married the singer Paul Simon in 1983, but they separated a year later... She is a half-sister to the actress Joely Fisher... Carrie Fisher has one daughter, Billie Catherine, born in 1992 to Fisher and agent Bryan Lourd... Another actress who has played Star Wars royalty is Natalie Portman.